why so many baptists in appalachia? (upper-class, fit in, home)
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in the above map, i noticede that some of the counties with the most baptists were in the appalachians....however the area was heavily settled by scottish and scots-irish immigrants....so i would assume that the area would lean more towards being presbyterian, as that is the religion of scotland. so were the scottish settlers forced to become baptist? or were they attracted to some aspect of the faith?
There are many Methodist and Presbyterians as well as Catholics in the Appalachian areas of Pa,WV and VA. In the southern Appalachians (Carolinas,Tennessee)you will find more Baptists. I am not sure how what you said came about as I am not Baptist myself.
There are many Methodist and Presbyterians as well as Catholics in the Appalachian areas of Pa,WV and VA. In the southern Appalachians (Carolinas,Tennessee)you will find more Baptists. I am not sure how what you said came about as I am not Baptist myself.
THe Ozarks demographics resemble those of Pa,WV, and VA as well. Like Appalachia, are heavily composed of Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians. The Appalachian foothills of Southeastern Ohio also I think fit in with this demographic pattern.
There's been a strong Baptist presence in the South for hundreds of years; the First Baptist Church of Charleston was founded in 1682. The Baptist preachers spread the religion throughout the Carolinas and Virginia, and as settlers from those states migrated into Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. they brought their religion with them.
My family is from Mississippi, but isn't Southern Baptist -- but Methodist. In the little town where my mother's family is from, there's a church called the Double Church, because on alternate Sundays it served Methodists and Baptists.
I wonder if the mountains are so heavily Baptist because of the governing body of the churches. Baptists choose their own pastors and therefore it was easier to have a church in areas that have a harder time providing for a pastor. Methodist seem to govern from a more central area and I imagine it was harder to get some of the Methodist ministers to serve such poor areas. I am just guessing here. I know nothing about the way the Presbyterian church governs although my ancestors must have been Presbyterian.
My ancestors were Scotch-Irish and a lot of our family members are buried in a small Presbyterian church off the Blue Ridge Parkway, but my parents and their parents went to the Baptist church because it was the only church in an area for more than five miles in any direction when they were growing up. This was before cars and it is difficult to travel more than five miles on a horse or buggy. Many of the people walked to church too. Baptist also have the missionary spirit. They go seeking new members as a rule, instead of just accepting those that show up.
Some of our neighbors went to the Presbyterian and Methodist churches on what my mother called "the other creek." To do this they had to travel for more than ten miles on mostly dirt roads. That could be very difficult in the Winter time when there was snow on the ground. Our little Baptist church that normally had less than 50 people filled to the brim every Christmas when we had our Christmas play and program. We would sometimes venture over to the Presbyterian church to see their really good programs too. I don't remember ever going to the Methodist church.
I noticed one of the posters mentioned a double church. We did not have a double church, it was Baptist every time we met, but we would share a pastor with another church and have preaching every other Sunday. That is why a Baptist deacon has such a responsible job. It is their job to take care of the physical needs of the church members. The preacher usually preached and that was the end of his obligation to the members. He was usually very social and someone from the church would invite him to Sunday dinner because he would sometimes be a long way from home. I remember one preacher just showing up at our home during a revival and of course it was the custom of inviting someone to eat if they came at suppertime. Someone had told him my mother was a good cook and she was.
The Baptists have went through "awakening" and revival periods. Also I think becoming a Baptist minister was easier than becoming a Presbyterian one. That probably proved useful among the poorer Appalachians who maybe didn't think they had the time or education to go through divinity school or something. Also there was a Modernist/Fundamentalist debate among Presbyterians in which the modernists largely "won" and that might have hurt them in Appalachia. (Modernistic forms of religion usually do badly among poorer peoples)
That said there are still some parts of Western Virginia, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania that are fairly Presbyterian.
I think the upper-class in the Appalachians remained Presbyterian for quite some time and might still be so to an extent. Lamar Alexander, Howard Baker, Bill Brock, Shelley Moore Capito, Jimmy Duncan, Nick Rahall, and Jay Rockefeller are Presbyterian. Interestingly though I thought the Rockefeller family was Baptist.
in the above map, i noticede that some of the counties with the most baptists were in the appalachians....however the area was heavily settled by scottish and scots-irish immigrants....so i would assume that the area would lean more towards being presbyterian, as that is the religion of scotland. so were the scottish settlers forced to become baptist? or were they attracted to some aspect of the faith?
It's actually more of a Southern thing, more than an Appalachian thing. The range stretches all the way to Canada and heavily Baptist states like Texas don't touch the Appalachians.
It's actually more of a Southern thing, more than an Appalachian thing. The range stretches all the way to Canada and heavily Baptist states like Texas don't touch the Appalachians.
True. If you look at the map Western Kentucky looks more Baptist than Eastern Kentucky and I believe the Western part of Kentucky is somewhat less Appalachian. Southern Alabama and Southern Mississippi are listed as highly Baptist, but they're not Appalachian. West Virginia doesn't look too much more Baptist than Illinois.
I do think the Baptists are much larger in Appalachia than they were at one time, but the Southern influence thing is a good point I should have mentioned.
That map doesn't include Black Baptists because the numbers come from the same source as thearda.com which says they don't have numbers for Black Baptists in 2000. That's why there are parts of the South that look like they aren't majority Baptists (like GA, SC, NC) but they actually are because Black Baptists aren't included.
Baptists still dominate the South, but I've noticed that less and less people identify themselves as Baptist these days. Non-denominational churches are very popular now.
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